PRCC Sports Information

POPLARVILLE, Miss. — Just eight days after falling to Delgado on the road the Pearl River men’s basketball team got its revenge Tuesday night inside Marvin R. White Coliseum, winning the contest 74-70.
“Delgado is a gritty bunch,” head coach Chris Oney said. “They’re tough and they rebound the ball well. They have really good guard play. We just turn the ball over too much.”
FIRST HALF
Pearl River (5-2 overall) found itself in an early hole against Delgado (4-5) trailing 8-4 just a few minutes into the game.
The Wildcats pulled within two as Cameron Brown (Hattiesburg) dashed down the court before lobbing an alley-oop to Brison Waller (Cleveland, Ohio.; Garfield Heights) who caught the pass and slammed it down. JaRonn Wilkens (Biloxi) followed it up by converting a layup through contact to tie the score up at eight.
Moments later PRCC built out its first big lead of the game with a 9-2 run. The run got started when Earl Smith Jr. (Jackson; Lanier) grabbed an offensive board and put the ball right up into the basket. Following that up was an old-fashioned 3-pointer from Carlous Williams (Hattiesburg; West Harrison).
The freshman battled through hard contact and got his layup to fall, earning a trip to the free-throw line in the process. He stepped up and hit nothing but net. Brown earned a trip to the free-throw line shortly after and was able to get both attempts to fall. The run was capped off with a coast-to-coast layup from Jair Currie (Albany, N.Y.; St. Thomas More) that made the Wildcat lead 17-10 with 13 minutes left to play in the half.
The Dolphins quickly battled back to tie the contest at 17.
Williams gave Pearl River the lead right back moments later as he drained a 10-foot jumper.
Neither team was able to pull away in the middle portion of the half as they found themselves in a 27-27 tie after Dylan Brumfield (Hattiesburg; Oak Grove) drove into the lane and stepped around a defender before making a layup.
As the end of the half was nearing, Pearl River put its foot on the gas. Williams laid a ball off the glass and into the basket. He followed up the layup by catching a pass at the top of the arc and nailed a 3-pointer while being fouled. The forward cashed in on the free-throw attempt to complete the four-point play.
Two perfect trips to the foul line for Brown and a Wildcat basket gave Pearl River a 46-33 lead at the midway point.
SECOND HALF
The second half started similarly to the end of the first as the Wildcats were scoring with ease. The Wildcats were passing the ball around trying to find the right lane to attack the basket, draining the time on the shot clock at the same time.
The last pass found Smith who was standing four feet beyond the top of the arc. Draped with a defender, Smith fired a shot off that banked off of the backboard and into the net as the shot clock expired to make the score 51-37.
The Dolphins battled back to cut the deficit to 10 points at 55-45 with 13:34 left in the contest.
PRCC had a 59-49 advantage after Waller grabbed an offensive rebound, dished a pass down low to Smith who put it into the basket.
Brown made the score 63-51 not long after as he fought through contact and made an acrobatic shot.
The Wildcats built out a 12-point lead at 69-57 before the Dolphins stormed back to cut the lead to just one point at 71-70.
Brown converted one free-throw before Brumfield converted two free-throws, proving to be the dagger in the 74-70 victory.
LEADING THE WAY
Williams turned in his third consecutive 20-point contest, tallying 21 points on the night. Brown finished the night 13-14 from the free-throw line to help him claim second in points with 15. Brumfield and Wilkens each scored 10 points.
Waller led the team in rebounds with nine and chipped in five points and three blocks.
Leading the way in assists was Currie with four.
UP NEXT
Pearl River returns to action Thursday as the Wildcats make the trip to East Central for the first game of MACCC play. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
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